It is common practice in both commercial and residential buildings to separate and define rooms using partition walls. In most commercial buildings, these walls are typically constructed of metal studs. The metal stud wall typically has a top track located horizontally at ceiling level, a bottom track located horizontally along the floor and vertically parallel stud members spaced evenly throughout the length of the wall secured between the top track and bottom track. Typically for non-loading bearing interior partition walls, the studs and tracks are constructed of 22 to 26 gauge steel which provides for sufficient structure to support the drywall mounted to the outside of the stud wall. For load bearing walls, either walls where the wall is required to carry a load of the ceiling and room structure or where it is desired to install fixtures such as hand rails, cabinets, or other fixtures, the studs and track are typically made from a heavier gauge steel such as 16 to 20 gauge. Such walls constructed of the heavier gauge steel are more expensive both in terms of the cost of the steel from which the studs and track are manufactured as well as in the time required to handle the heavier gauge member and to construct the wall, as such walls require heavier duty fastening systems and owing to the thickness of the metal require more time to install the fastenings compared to the lighter gauge non-loading bearing members. Heavier gauge metal also has the drawback of having better sound transmission and requires more layers of wallboard to maintain the desired reduced sound transmission properties.
Typically when a fixture such as a cabinet or handrail is to be mounted to the wall, the wall is constructed utilizing the heavier gauge load supporting members and a metal strip of a 16 to 20 gauge metal is installed horizontally along the wall at the position where the fixture is to be mounted. The drywall is then mounted to the wall in the usual manner and after finishing, the fixture is mounted to the metal strip to transfer the load of the fixture through the metal strip to the studs of the wall.
It would be desirable to provide for a load supporting blocking member for use in a light gauge metal stud wall which would allow for proper support for fixtures while reducing the cost of constructing the wall through the use of the lighter gauge materials and less layers of wallboard.